Seasons for Growth is an educational program about change, loss and grief that supports children and adults following significant life events such as separation and divorce. It offers long-term support using a strengths-based and non-pathologising framework that is firmly grounded in both theory and research. The program has been evaluated nationally in Australia, where over 60,000 children have accessed it. Emeritus Professor Beverley Raphael (2003) states that the program: "promotes social support and positive outcomes... and is developed and implemented in ways which meet children's and families' needs across the ages of development".

This paper describes a unique community initiative which has supported children and families following family break-up. In the Hunter ninety-five percent of children and adults who access the program do so following divorce or separation. The paper describes how the program has been implemented in the Hunter as part of an inter-agency strengths and resilience-focused "continuum of response" for children and families. It documents some of the ways in which community networks have been strengthened and extended as Seasons for Growth has been implemented across the region.

In examining the feedback from Hunter participants, the paper also identifies that Seasons for Growth appears to provide a valuable tool for participants to engage in social analysis and critical reflection. The participants' feedback indicates that such critical analysis can play a useful part in their process of individual healing. The importance of incorporating the social into our theoretical understanding of the individual process of grieving is then discussed.